Tangier Mayor Mounir Limouri was placed in police custody Monday as part of an investigation into suspected violations involving election ballots during Morocco’s Sept. 23 parliamentary elections, according to Hespress AR judicial sources.
The public prosecutor at the Tangier Court of Appeal ordered Limouri to remain in police custody following his questioning by judicial police.
He is expected to appear before the prosecutor after the 48-hour custody period, when a decision will be made on whether he will remain free or be detained pending further proceedings.
Limouri, who is also the regional secretary of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, was questioned for about 10 hours, according to Hespress AR sources. Sources additionally said investigators confronted him with records of telephone calls he had made with people being investigated in the case before election day.
Limouri returned to Tangier Monday from Malaga, Spain, where he had traveled several days earlier. He was detained at Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport under a national search warrant and transferred to the city’s judicial police.
Before his return, Limouri denied that he had left Morocco to avoid questioning, saying his trip was related to his business activities and meetings with commercial partners and clients in Spain. He had said he would return to Tangier to appear before investigators.
The case centers on the discovery of a bag containing election ballots linked to a polling station at Al Quds School in Tangier’s Casabarata neighborhood.
The prosecutor’s office previously said five suspects had been detained in connection with the case. They included the heads and deputy heads of two polling stations and another person. Investigators alleged that one deputy polling-station head removed a number of ballots from the polling station with the assistance of the station head before they were later returned. They also reported that the ink found on the seized ballots differed from the ink used at the polling stations.
Based on the initial investigation, prosecutors requested that an investigating judge open a formal investigation into suspected violations of voting procedures, forgery and participation in those offenses, according to the prosecutor’s office.
With Limouri’s detention, seven people have now been detained in connection with the broader case, according to Hespress. The investigation remains ongoing, and Limouri’s detention and questioning do not by themselves establish criminal responsibility.
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